Harvard-affiliated Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) has been established in Ho Chi Minh City. Classes will begin in September 2016. FUV is the first private, nonprofit Vietnamese university founded on the principles of accountability, meritocracy, transparency, self-governance, mutual respect, and open inquiry. FUV will serve Vietnamese society through the creation of human and knowledge capital that enhances Vietnam’s well-being, prosperity, and sustainability.

FUV will be a learning-focused university rooted in cultural traditions, embracing universal values, leveraging the latest advancements in academics, learning, teaching, leadership and technology. FUV will conduct impact-oriented research with goals of finding solutions and resolution to the many challenges facing Vietnam socially, environmentally and economically.

The new university is established on the foundation of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, a collaboration between the Harvard Kennedy School’s Vietnam Program and the University of Economics, which is “widely regarded as Vietnam’s preeminent school of public policy,” according to a statement by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The Fulbright Economics Teaching Program (FETP) supports three core initiatives, including the Master in Public Policy program and executive education, research, into complex policy issues confronting Vietnam and policy dialogue, through discussion with Vietnamese policymakers and participation in the public policy discourse in Vietnam, according to the program’s website.

The transition from FETP to a more ambitious university began in a joint statement issued by President Obama and former Vietnamese President Sang in 2013. Both leaders agreed to form a US-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership to provide an overarching framework for advancing the relationship. They underlined the principles of the US Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, including respect for the United Nations Charter, international law, and each other’s political systems, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

The Comprehensive Partnership is intended to contribute to peace, stability, cooperation, and prosperity in each country, in the region, and in the world. The Partnership will create mechanisms for cooperation in areas including political and diplomatic relations, trade and economic ties, science and technology, education and training, environment and health, war legacy issues, defense and security, protection and promotion of human rights, and culture, sports, and tourism.